Across the United States, millions of children are being raised not by their parents, but by grandparents who step up when a family is in crisis. Researchers and advocates often call these households “grandfamilies” or kinship families, and they have become an increasingly visible part of the child welfare landscape.
Recent national data show about 2.5 million children are being raised in grandfamilies but that number is said to be an undercount because the phenomena is underreported. But the U.S. Census Bureau has also reported that about 6.7 million adults age 30 and older lived with their grandchildren in 2021.
The primary caregiver grandparents carry primary responsibility for grandchildren whose parents cannot do so. The reasons are often painful and overlapping.
Child welfare and family-caregiving experts point to parental substance use, including the long fallout from the opioid epidemic, as a major factor. Others include incarceration, military deployment, abuse or neglect, parental death, severe mental illness, chronic illness, poverty, housing instability, and other disruptions that leave children without a safe home.
However, for most grandparents they receive little to no government support while they are taking on the added financial responsibility for raising the children that would otherwise end up in the foster care system.
Grandparents taking in grandchildren can keep children out of foster care while preserving family bonds, school stability, and cultural connections. Analysts and kinship-care advocates say children generally do better with relatives than in stranger foster placements when those homes are safe and supported.
The arrangement can come with a steep cost. Many grandparents are retired or living on fixed incomes and must suddenly cover food, clothing, school supplies, childcare, and housing for a growing household.
Researchers and policy groups say these caregivers often face higher stress, greater financial hardship, and more mental and physical health problems than non-caregivers. Legal status can make matters harder: without formal custody or guardianship, grandparents may struggle to enroll children in school, authorize medical treatment, or qualify for some benefits.
Advocates say the central problem is that public systems often still treat the grandparents as an exception rather than a cornerstone of family stability.
The federal Advisory Council created under the Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act has urged stronger legal assistance, easier access to benefits, better mental health support, and more coordination among schools, health care providers, and child welfare agencies.
Guests:
Darla Grand is with Grand 60 Miracle
Connie Merris is a grandparent raising a Grandchild
Angie Garduno is a grandparent raising a Grandchild
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